Rudolph and the Grinch make success look so easy. Year after year for generations, the red-nosed reindeer and the would-be thief of Christmas rank among the most beloved holiday characters, their stories translated into dozens of languages around the world.
But it’s a little-known coincidence that both can trace their roots through Hanover. Grinch author Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, class of 1925, walked the campus for three years along with Rudolph creator Robert May, class of 1926. Though they graduated a year apart and each set off to build a career in advertising, May’s daughter Virginia Herz knows of no meaningful connection between the two men either in college or afterward.
In other words, lightning struck twice at Dartmouth, spawning not one but two Christmas legends that have endured for more than 60 years. Let’s face it, not every holiday character achieves immortality. Who remembers poor old Punkinhead, the sad Christmas bear?
Geisel was already a celebrated author of children’s books when How the Grinch Stole Christmas was published in 1957. But May was little known in 1939 when he invented Rudolph as part of an advertising campaign for the Montgomery Ward department store in Chicago. The story was an instant classic; the store printed 2.4 million copies of the booklet in the first year. Eventually, May gave up advertising to manage the growing business of Rudolph.
“It was very unexpected that over this many years Rudolph has continued to be not just popular but is part of Christmas lore,” says Herz.
Gerry Bowler, a former University of Manitoba professor and author of The World Encyclopedia of Christmas, ranks the Grinch and Rudolph among the top five most important Christmas characters in North America. The other three characters are impressive company: Santa, Ebenezer Scrooge, and St. Nicholas, the real-life saint known for his gift-giving.
Both Rudolph and the Grinch have become commercial empires. Rudolph has taken on myriad lives, from a children’s book to a hit song to a 1964 animated film. This year, stores are rolling out new lines of Rudolph stuffed animals for the holidays. Similarly, the Grinch morphed from a book to an animated TV classic in 1966 to a series of contemporary films—including a live action movie in 2000. The star of the movie, Jim Carrey, is in negotiations to make a sequel.
The two Christmas tales couldn’t seem more different. The Grinch, a green furry monster with a heart two sizes too small, ruins Christmas. He’s a grump and a villain, stealing all of Whoville’s presents in an elaborate heist. Rudolph, on the other hand, is a relatable outcast who saves Christmas for all. Bowler pointed out, though, that the characters are two sides of the same coin. Both the Grinch and Rudolph became cultural icons because they tell a classic story of good triumphing: Rudolph is accepted by his peers and leads Santa’s sleigh into the night; the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes, and he joins Whoville residents in their holiday festivities.
It’s the one time of year in which we expect ourselves and others to behave better.”
—Gerry Bowler, author of The World Encyclopedia of Christmas
The storylines are perfect echoes of the Nativity story, says Bowler, noting that “Christ’s child is born to reconcile man to God.”
“Even the most secular kind of Christmas leaks out of the Nativity story,” he continues. “That’s where the magic starts. You’ve got angels; you’ve got dreams; you’ve got virgins being pregnant; you’ve got strange kings at the door with gifts. It’s just an incredible story.”
Contemporary parables such as Rudolph and the Grinch, though nonreligious, reinforce viewers’ feeling of Christmastime virtue.
“It’s the one time of year in which we expect ourselves and others to behave better,” Bowler says. “It exercises a kind of moral hegemony over us for the month of December, so we respond when a character is redeemed: the prodigal son, the lost sheep, the ugly duckling.”
Herz agrees that Rudolph’s story has staying power because it tells a tale of redemption. May, in fact, was inspired by reading the story of the ugly duckling to one of his children. The story of Rudolph “really appeals to the underdog,” she says. “Everything that separates people and makes someone feel different, alone.”
Some media accounts say that May created Rudolph because he related to the character. May skipped a grade in school and “was a nerdy kid who saw himself as a loser,” according to NPR. Herz pushes back on this portrayal and says that her father didn’t see himself in the littlest reindeer. He had a lot of friends and particularly embraced the social scene when he was at Dartmouth.
“The media wants to find a story,” she says. The Grinch and Rudolph are part of a long history of Christmas characters whose stories emphasize redemption. Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is about a crotchety old grump who learns generosity and kindness; George Bailey in the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life sees that he is a vital pillar in his family and community.
Not all Christmas redemption stories are lasting hits, though. In 1948, Eaton’s department store in Canada created the character of Punkinhead in hopes of emulating the success of Rudolph. Punkinhead is another social outcast, a sad bear with a strange mop of blond hair who saves the Christmas parade with the help of his long golden locks. He’s the only one who can fit into Santa’s special hat. Canada’s version of Rudolph had faded from cultural relevance by the 1980s, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Rudolph’s star power dramatically increased when Johnny Marks, May’s brother-in-law, wrote “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the song. Popularized with a record from the singing cowboy Gene Autry in 1949, it sold more than 12 million copies.
Bowler says the song improved upon the book, making it easier to follow. “The original May booklet is too long, too complicated, but Marks condenses it,” Bowler says.
American companies have long sought to capitalize on Christmas, but rarely as successfully as with the Grinch and Rudolph. In the mid-20th century, advertising was rife with Christmas characters. Ivory soap, for example, ran an ad with a sooty Santa Claus in need of a scrub. Murad Turkish Cigarettes shows an ecstatic, puffing St. Nicholas. Santa, apparently, only shaves with Williams Mug Shaving Soap.
Christmas “is a massive generator of the economy,” says Bowler. “You could get buried under the amount of crud that’s produced every year.”
Yet the Grinch and Rudolph remain on top of the Christmas heap more than 50 years after the TV specials that made them superstars. And they’re more alike than they might appear, in Bowler’s view: If the Grinch is Thing 1, Rudolph is Thing 2.
Charlotte Hampton, former editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth, is a news associate at CNN in Washington, D.C.
